Spring is here.

Positively Negative

Spring starts when my daffodils start flowering. Summer ends when the birds emigrate

topper75

May can't be spring. That is a continental European thing where the grip of cold lasts much longer into the year and then they get a blazing summer.

The trees are in leaf in May here on our island and things are well under way. The solstice falls slap bang in the middle of our summer and the winter solstice happens in the middle of our winter.

I think a lot of the internationalisation that has happened in peoples' lives over the last few decades has yielded confusion.

We read foreign press, watch foreign TV, and work in international trade scenarios, EU has us by the short and curlies.

In all that we forget that we are Irish and different.

If it comes to a call between Met Eireann who are around for a hundred odd years and the knowledge passed down by the people through 9 millenia of farming and watching the seasons closely ... forgive me for opting to place more trust in the latter. The four quarters of the Irish calendar aren't made up mumbo jumbo - they match what is actually going on in our land.
Spring is Imbolc to Bealtaine.
Summer is Bealtaine to Lughnasa.
Autumn is Lughnasa to Samhain.
Winter is Samhain to Imbolc.

Rubberlegs

If today is the start of Spring and given that there are 3 months in a season, that would make August the first month of Autumn. That just seems wrong to me. Also we can have some really nice weather in September, you could be forgiven for thinking it is Summer. I wonder will the defining of seasons eventually fade out, or will they have to be redefined altogether. The weather can be too unpredictable in Ireland though anyway!

Widdershins

I'm ok with August being Autumn as I associate August and Autumn with harvests and I pick apples in August.

Malari

I don't think we have to stick with 3 months a season! It feels like Spring now. All the bulbs are starting to show and it's getting brighter in the mornings and evenings.

Hah, no pun intended! :P

February is the start of spring and August is the start of Autumn simple as that. This is the way it's always been and will be.

murpho999

topper75 wrote: »

May can't be spring. That is a continental European thing where the grip of cold lasts much longer into the year and then they get a blazing summer.

The trees are in leaf in May here on our island and things are well under way. The solstice falls slap bang in the middle of our summer and the winter solstice happens in the middle of our winter.

I think a lot of the internationalisation that has happened in peoples' lives over the last few decades has yielded confusion.

We read foreign press, watch foreign TV, and work in international trade scenarios, EU has us by the short and curlies.

In all that we forget that we are Irish and different.

If it comes to a call between Met Eireann who are around for a hundred odd years and the knowledge passed down by the people through 9 millenia of farming and watching the seasons closely ... forgive me for opting to place more trust in the latter. The four quarters of the Irish calendar aren't made up mumbo jumbo - they match what is actually going on in our land.
Spring is Imbolc to Bealtaine.
Summer is Bealtaine to Lughnasa.
Autumn is Lughnasa to Samhain.
Winter is Samhain to Imbolc.

Where are you getting this from? What foreign press are Irish people reading in Europe apart from UK stuff, as language is an issue.

What has EU got to do with seasons?

You claim we are Irish but then ignore what the official Irish body on this matter say, and they say that Spring starts in March.

Sam Kade

Widdershins wrote: »

I've always felt that's a misconception that we perpetuate because it's funny. Someone will probably come along with a rainfall chart to correct me but I spend a lot of time outdoors and I hear people joking about the Irish weather and can't reconcile that to what I see and feel.

It's the gloom and doom concept, like this winter was mild and reasonably dry for the most part. If you say to anyone that we can't complain they will reply with, we will get the winter yet.

Positively Negative

There doesn't have to be an exact amount of months in a season really, and the season doesn't have to start on the first day of a month.

Seasons are gods or universe made, calendars are human made

biko

Yay, it's spring!

skankkuvhima

murpho999 wrote: »

official Irish body on this matter say, and they say that Spring starts in March.

According to another official Irish body we're supposed to be paying water charges so I don't take much notice of official Irish bodies.

murpho999

skankkuvhima wrote: »

According to another official Irish body we're supposed to be paying water charges so I don't take much notice of official Irish bodies.

Which body is that? As that has been suspended by the government.

Ridiculous argument.

kopite386

For me anyways it has and always will be
Winter: November, December, January
Spring: February, March, April
Summer: May, June, July
Autumn: August, September, October
St Brigid's day is the 1st of February & marks the beginning of spring
As for Met Eireann what they actually say is we define summer as the three warmest months of year which they say is June, July and August technically we get better weather in September than we do in June so if we to go by that it should be July, August and September

FWIW (which I know isn't a lot haha :pac: ) I agree with my quote below that summer solstice is midsummer (June) and the winter solstice midwinter (December) - so if midwinter is December that means winter starts in November
I got this from another similar thread that came up in 2010

People often query the timing of the seasons but rarely question midsummer or midwinter. Midsummer is the summer solstice - the longest day - and midwinter being the winter solstice - the shortest day.

Midwinter is December 21 and Midsummer is Jun 21. Winter then is 6.5 weeks (45 days) each side of midwinter and summer is 6.5 weeks (45 days) either side of midsummer. That would put summer around 7 May to 5 Aug roughly. Winter would be around 5 Nov to 4 February roughly.

So approximating summer to May, June, July and winter to Nov Dec Jan would make sense with midwinter and midsummer falling roughly halfway in both periods. Spring and Autumn are then Feb, Mar, Apr for spring and Aug, Sep, Oct for autumn.

Don't know if many will accept that, but that's how I think we decided on the months for each season.

Arcade_Tryer

Arabella Sparse Hemp wrote: »

February is the start of spring and August is the start of Autumn simple as that. This is the way it's always been and will be.

Nonsense. It's 6 degrees celcius with a wind chill right now on the east coast. Spring my backside.

topper75 wrote: »

Spring is Imbolc to Bealtaine.
Summer is Bealtaine to Lughnasa.
Autumn is Lughnasa to Samhain.
Winter is Samhain to Imbolc.

Have no idea what this means.

Alun

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Nonsense. It's 6 degrees celcius with a wind chill right now on the east coast. Spring my backside.

The temperature reading in my car just now was 10 deg, but when I got out it felt more like -10 with the wind and ice cold rain.

Spring my @rse.

conditioned games

One more month of winter left before the 1st of March which is the beginning of Spring. That's not going to change any time soon. The seasons are as follows;

December January February = Winter
March April May = Spring
June July August = Summer
September October November = Autumn

RobertKK

It is still winter, now for the science bit based on temperature, this from my weather station.

2016

                  Temperature (°C), Heat Base: 18.3  Cool Base: 18.3
                          Dep.  Heat  Cool                       Max  Max  Min  Min
        Mean  Mean        From  Deg   Deg                        >=   <=   <=   <=
 YR MO  Max   Min   Mean  Norm  Days  Days  Hi  Date  Low  Date 27.0  0.0  0.0 -18.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 16  1   7.6   2.7   5.3   0.0   400     0  12.1  26  -0.8   15    0    0    3    0
 16  2   7.0   1.4   4.2   0.0   407     0  11.4  21  -1.8   24    0    0    7    0
 16  3   9.3   2.2   5.4   0.0   396     0  13.0  13  -0.9    4    0    0    3    0
 16  4  11.0   2.7   6.5   0.0   350     0  16.3  19  -0.9    9    0    0    3    0
 16  5  16.6   7.5  11.7   0.0   205     2  21.9  28   3.4    3    0    0    0    0
 16  6  18.7  10.6  14.1   0.0   133     7  23.5   9   6.5    3    0    0    0    0
 16  7  19.2  11.5  14.8   0.0   118    10  27.8  19   7.2    2    1    0    0    0
 16  8  19.2  11.8  14.9   0.0   111     6  24.7  16   7.7    9    0    0    0    0
 16  9  17.3  10.4  13.5   0.0   148     3  24.7   5   6.4   22    0    0    0    0
 16 10  13.2   7.7  10.0   0.0   255     0  15.9   2   4.9    2    0    0    0    0
 16 11   7.6   2.3   5.0   0.0   418     0  14.4  14  -1.9   20    0    0    9    0
 16 12   8.9   4.3   6.8   0.0   355     0  12.7   7  -0.1   20    0    0    1    0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        13.0   6.3   9.3   0.0  3302    29  27.8 Jul  -1.9  Nov    1    0   26    0

2015

Temperature (°C), Heat Base: 18.3  Cool Base: 18.3
                          Dep.  Heat  Cool                       Max  Max  Min  Min
        Mean  Mean        From  Deg   Deg                        >=   <=   <=   <=
 YR MO  Max   Min   Mean  Norm  Days  Days  Hi  Date  Low  Date 27.0  0.0  0.0 -18.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15  1   7.0   1.4   4.2   0.0   414     0  14.9   9  -3.2   19    0    0   12    0
 15  2   6.4   1.1   3.6   0.0   403     0  11.2  25  -3.4    4    0    0    8    0
 15  3   9.4   2.1   5.7   0.0   365     0  13.8  22  -1.2    3    0    0    6    0
 15  4  13.8   4.2   8.6   0.0   283     0  18.9   6  -0.2   28    0    0    2    0
 15  5  13.3   5.5   9.3   0.0   273     0  17.2  22   0.0   22    0    0    1    0
 15  6  17.8   8.5  12.9   0.0   159     2  23.1  30   3.3    1    0    0    0    0
 15  7  17.8  10.4  13.6   0.0   144     1  24.8   1   6.4   25    0    0    0    0
 15  8  18.2  10.2  13.7   0.0   145     2  23.1  18   6.8   15    0    0    0    0
 15  9  15.4   8.6  11.5   0.0   202     0  19.2  17   5.8    6    0    0    0    0
 15 10  13.4   7.3  10.1   0.0   255     0  17.4   1   3.6   13    0    0    0    0
 15 11  11.2   5.7   8.5   0.0   285     0  15.1   6  -0.1   23    0    0    1    0
 15 12  10.4   4.8   7.8   0.0   323     0  12.8  18   0.8   31    0    0    0    0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        12.8   5.8   9.1   0.0  3257     7  24.8 Jul  -3.4  Feb    0    0   30    0

2014

Temperature (°C), Heat Base: 18.3  Cool Base: 18.3
                          Dep.  Heat  Cool                       Max  Max  Min  Min
        Mean  Mean        From  Deg   Deg                        >=   <=   <=   <=
 YR MO  Max   Min   Mean  Norm  Days  Days  Hi  Date  Low  Date 27.0  0.0  0.0 -18.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 14  1   7.3   2.4   4.8   0.0   412     0  10.8  24  -0.1   14    0    0    1    0
 14  2   7.5   2.1   4.6   0.0   373     0  10.1  19  -0.4   11    0    0    3    0
 14  3   9.8   3.2   6.2   0.0   365     0  14.1  19  -0.3   22    0    0    1    0
 14  4  13.7   6.1   9.3   0.0   268     0  18.7  29   2.7    8    0    0    0    0
 14  5  14.9   7.7  11.0   0.0   225     0  19.9  31   5.1   12    0    0    0    0
 14  6  18.8  10.0  14.1   0.0   131     7  25.2  18   5.3    5    0    0    0    0
 14  7  21.0  12.4  16.1   0.0    85    19  27.7  25   7.7    6    1    0    0    0
 14  8  17.4  10.1  13.2   0.0   155     1  21.4   7   6.6   23    0    0    0    0
 14  9  18.7  10.4  14.0   0.0   130     3  21.7   4   6.7    8    0    0    0    0
 14 10  12.1   6.2   9.0   0.0   210     0  17.2   2   0.0   17    0    4    5    0
 14 11   9.7   4.7   7.3   0.0   317     0  12.9   1   0.4   23    0    0    0    0
 14 12   7.3   2.7   5.1   0.0   396     0  11.9  21  -2.0   28    0    0    5    0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        13.2   6.5   9.6   0.0  3073    32  27.7 Jul  -2.0  Dec    1    4   15    0

February is one of the coldest months of the year as it is still winter.

subpar

The sun gains approximately 10 degrees height in the sky during February and the days lengthen by roughly 4 mins extra daylight each day so winter is truly left behind this month.

LushiousLips

conditioned games wrote: »

One more month of winter left before the 1st of March which is the beginning of Spring. That's not going to change any time soon. The seasons are as follows;

December January February = Winter
March April May = Spring
June July August = Summer
September October November = Autumn

What he said :D

conditioned games

conditioned games wrote: »

One more month of winter left before the 1st of March which is the beginning of Spring. That's not going to change any time soon. The seasons are as follows;

December January February = Winter
March April May = Spring
June July August = Summer
September October November = Autumn

Wrong I'm afraid.

November, December, January = winter
February, March, April = spring
May, June, July = Summer
August, September, October = Autumn

RobertKK

Arabella Sparse Hemp wrote: »

Wrong I'm afraid.

November, December, January = winter
February, March, April = spring
May, June, July = Summer
August, September, October = Autumn

That does not stand up when science is applied.

Arcade_Tryer

Arabella Sparse Hemp wrote: »

May, June, July = Summer
August, September, October = Autumn

Don't know what planet you're living on where August is in any season other than Summer but it's certainly not Earth!

Arcade_Tryer

RobertKK wrote: »

That does not stand up when science is applied.

Or even common sense...

humberklog

I treat the seasons as a feeling. Spring usually arrives around Paddy's day and lasts into May until it feels Summery, then it's summer until about the 2nd or 3rd week in September when Autumn kicks in. This, like Spring, is brief and Autmn for me usually ends mid November and then we're back into winter until around Paddy's day.

I associate the seasons with senses. Colours, light, smells etc.

Don't care for segmenting them into rigid dates or time frames.

freshpopcorn

In school we were told,
Spring
February
March
April
Summer
May
June
July
Autumn
August
September
October
Winter
November
December
January

I find all the people who use the new trendy Calendar who go on their family holiday in May always refer to it as their Summer holiday and not their Spring holiday!

CelticRambler

murpho999 wrote: »

Where are you getting this from? What foreign press are Irish people reading in Europe apart from UK stuff, as language is an issue.

Read any French calendar (or gardening book) and you'll see that Spring begins here on the 22nd March, and the 21st of June is the first day of Summer, not the middle. :pac:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Meteorological spring begins on 01 March 2017

Astronomical spring begins on 20 March 2017

Take your pick, but they are your only choices.

Jack the Stripper

When you wake up with an erection that's usually a good sign of spring.

riffmongous

RobertKK wrote: »

That does not stand up when science is applied.

If you only use temperatures, if you use some other data like insolation, and phenology it does work.

Autonomous Cowherd

The profusion of buds on trees and shrubs indicates it is Spring, to my mind. There has been such a big change in the past week or so of things creeping back above ground, the bird song has revved up a notch, the weeding has commenced, Imbolc has dawned; it's Spring.